Lil Peep’s Former Management Counters Wrongful Death Lawsuit: "He Was An Adult"

Back in October, it was reported that Lil Peep’s mother, Liza Womack, would be suing his former management company, First Access Entertainment, for his wrongful death. In November of 2017, Lil Peep (real name Gustav Ahr) passed away at the age of 21 from an accidental fentanyl and Xanax overdose. His mother is claiming that Peep’s management team and First Access’ executive officers should be held responsible for enabling and encouraging his drug use while on tour. 

After the lawsuit was filed, Public Access released a statement that Womack’s claims were “categorically untrue.” Courts documents retrieved by The Blast now detail Public Access’ argument for why they are not liable for Peep’s death. “Mr. Ahr cannot be deemed a helpless child in the eyes of the law,” the docs read. “He was an adult. He co-owned and co-controlled the Joint Venture. This included his tour. Just as universities have little control over off-campus social activities, the FAE entities did not control or have the right to control Mr. Ahr’s personal life, including his drug use. The policy of preventing future harm factor weighs against imposing a duty, too. Mr. Ahr was an adult. He chose to take the drugs that killed him. Arm’s length business associates should not be strapped with a duty to protect each other from self-inflicted harm.”

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Womack accused members of her son’s management team of providing him with drugs and allowing him to perform in a heavily-drugged state. Peep supposedly asked his managers several times to end the tour due to mental and physical exhaustion, but they pushed him to keep going out of fear of losing money. The lawsuit claims that one of his managers, Belinda Mercer, advised him to take an “excessive amount of Xanax” so insurance would cover cancellation costs due to illness. Womack also cited another incident when a manger gifted Peep with a bottle of pills for his birthday. 

Despite these claims, Public Access Entertainment thinks they should not be held responsible “for her adult son’s risky behavior and unfortunate but self-inflicted demise.”

Read our interview with the directors of the documentary about Lil Peep, Everybody’s Everything.